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Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 1
Texas DOL/ETA Workforce Information Grant PY2012
Performance Report
Overview of Texas LMI Programs and Performance
PY2012 was another excellent and productive year for the Texas LMI grantee. New products
were brought to the marketplace, both electronically and in print, innovative processes
continued to permeate our operations, our outreach and training effort has never been more
robust, our collaboration with other stakeholders, at both the state partner and local level has
never been more solid, and we managed to maintain and keep current an already dizzying
array of labor market products and services. LMCI implemented an internal reorganization
during the PY, formally creating two Director positions; one with management
responsibilities for BLS program operations and routine data dissemination and the other
tagged as Applied Decision Support with responsibilities for LMI automation, education and
workforce follow-up, and special project research. Operational management for the ETA
Workforce Information Grant was placed in the Applied Decision Support group. Some staff
reporting relationships were realigned and a special emphasis was placed on staff cross-
training and functional integration; especially among the BLS program staff. This approach is
to encourage those that produce various data series better understand how LMI consumers use
their data.
Staff addressed innumerable questions on Texas and regional labor market dynamics while
continuing to expand the number of online reports such as our one-page LWDA and Industry
Profile reports in TRACER2. We balanced maintenance of existing products with an eye
toward continued innovation. The most recent past program years were highly invested in the
creation of the Detailed Work Activity (DWA) Common Language project. This year focused
on the application possibilities for that initiative, the development of enhanced tools for
analysis and the outreach and communication of the potential of this common skills language,
especially in the area of higher education.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of our PY2011 DWA initiative was the adoption by Texas
State Technical College (TSTC) Waco of the DWA process for alignment of their educational
curricula to DWAs, representing employer skill requirements. In PY2012 TSTC has moved
decidedly forward, creating their own internal software tools to align program learning
objectives with detailed work activities. LMCI staff worked very closely with TSTC to help
them emulate auto-coding functionalities and the ability to upload and parse course
descriptions and create education program level DWA profiles. We are very proud of our
ability to work with multiple stakeholders outside our immediate community of practitioners,
and this project demonstrates the importance of skills-based labor market information to better
align public education and labor market demand. The collaboration with TSTC will intensify
in PY2013, including additional investments in updating the DWA skills library and
improving upon the DWA natural language processing algorithms.
Of all the Internet applications developed and maintained by the Texas grantee, the Texas
Reality Check application remained far and away the most popular. That site averages over a
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 2
million page views a month in its’ first ten months of existence and students stayed on the site
for almost 15 minutes per visit.
Annual Economic Analysis Report(s)
LMCI contributes to, but is not exclusively responsible for, several external analyses of
the Texas economy. The state Comptroller of Public Accounts and the Texas Governor’s
Office, serving as the state Economic Development Office, offer such analyses against
which the TWC opts not to compete or duplicate analyses. The Comptroller publishes a
monthly economic outlook briefing at http://www.texasahead.org/economy/outlook.php
and a series of charted economic indicators on a monthly/quarterly basis at
http://www.texasahead.org/economy/tracking/
For a narrative economic overview of the Texas economy see the website of the Texas
Governor’s Office at: http://www.texaswideopenforbusiness.com/media/snapshots.php.
This web page include overviews for the several industry clusters approved by the Texas
legislature, as well as an overview of the Texas economy at
http://www.governor.state.tx.us/files/ecodev/texas-economic-overview.pdf
LMCI does play a significant role in providing useful regional information that forms the
basis of workforce, economic development and labor market planning for regional
intermediaries. Most of these data are made available electronically to facilitate more
interactive, regionally customized labor market analysis that often must transcend
traditional politically-designed regions. Such interactivity becomes important in a state
the size of Texas. With 254 counties and 28 local workforce development areas, it is
impossible to produce hardcopy reports for each area. Chief among the automated tools
available to get local economic profiles is the County Narrative Profiles (CNP)
application, which can be found both in Texas Industry Profiles and SOCRATES. CNP
allows the user to create county and multi-county economic profiles on-the-fly that
include almost 400 economic demographic, income, employment and social variables in
a pre-written narrative report. CNP can be found at
http://socrates.cdr.state.tx.us/CNP/index.asp
For PY 2012 we added a new publication to our repertoire that built on the foundation
provided by short term industry employment forecasts. We contracted with IHS Global
Insights to create annual employment forecasts for the four year period of 2012 through
2015 for Texas and all 28 Local Workforce Boards. In addition, we interviewed ten (10)
Texas economists to get their take on the short term
prospects for the state and regional economy. The
result is an engaging and balanced discussion of the
economic and demographic phenomena most likely to
influence Texas job growth through 2015.The
publication can be found on the Internet at
www.lmci.state.tx.us/shared/GrowthAbounds.asp
LMCI Web Metrics for PY2012
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 3
LMCI offers ten (10) different end user applications to address the information needs of
our constituency. All LMCI web based applications are monitored for user activity,
assessing metrics such as sessions, bytes transferred, page views and the number of
visitors. Counts of information disseminated, numbers of inquiries addressed and type of
inquiry help determine user interest and guide product development efforts. Web use data
for most LMCI applications for PY2012 are provided below.
The new Texas Reality Check program was introduced on October 1, 2012. From
October 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013, there have been 369,089 user sessions and
10,581,093 page views for an average of over a million page views per month -- and
trending upward. The average time spent on the site was just under 15 minutes;
demonstrating significant engagement on the part of the primarily student oriented
audience.
LMCI offers several applications geared toward regional workforce planning and analysis
and economic development. Within these packages the most frequently visited pages
involved employer contact information, occupational profiles and occupational
projections data in that order. These results are not surprising as the more complex LMCI
web applications, such as SOCRATES, SWAP and Texas Industry Profiles, offer
enormous analytical power but are targeted for a much smaller audience of workforce
planning and economic development professionals. Use of LMCI’s career information
tools far surpasses those intended for other audiences. Including Texas Reality Check and
the other LMCI software applications, Texas had over a 1.1 million user sessions and
over 25 million page views.
Customer Use Metrics July 1, 2012 thru June 30, 2013
Application Sessions Sessions
per day Page Views
Page Views
per day
Texas CARES Online 482,673 1,323 13,382,723 36,665
LMCI Home Page 47,457 130 103,258 283
Industry Profiles 69,487 190 312,950 857
TRACER2 102,788 282 674,958 1,849
Texas Wages 8,760 24 10,424 28
SOCRATES 36,442 100 233,750 640
Texas Work Prep 31,122 86 94,827 260
All LMCI Sites (excluding
Reality Check) 778,729 14,812,893
Major shifts in use between PY2011 and PY2012 occurred when Work In Texas, the
Texas electronic labor exchange system, changed internal web links from the LMCI
home page to links to Texas CARES Online and SOCRATES. Not surprising given the
user volume from WIT, page views for the LMCI home page declined while all the use
metrics for SOCRATES and page views for Texas CARES Online increased sharply.
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 4
Starting in PY2013 LMCI will be transitioning from the Urchin web analytics software to
Google Analytics. Urchin was acquired by Google in 2005 to form the basis for Google
Analytics but they are no longer supporting the older Urchin software. We will endeavor
to make sure no data are lost in the transition process, however it is possible that next
years’ statistical use reports may lack continuity with those submitted in prior years.
Section A: Detailed Project Accomplishments based on PY2012
Statement of Work
I. Populate & Maintain the Workforce Information Database
Maintenance of Workforce Information Database (WIDb) v. 2.4 -- The Texas WIDb
is fully converted to version 2.5. All WID core data tables are appropriately populated per
guidelines issued by the Analyst Resource Center. Texas has incorporated InfoGroup’ s
2013 Employer Contacts files into all LMCI online tools and distributed the free CDs to
all Texas LWDBs. LMCI employed a full-time staff person dedicated to keeping the
Texas WIDb core data tables current and interconnected with our TRACER2 workforce
information delivery software and our data warehouse. That same staff member
continued to serve as a permanent member of the ARC (Analyst Resource Center),
attending all group and telephone meetings. In addition, the state of Texas invested in a
commercial site location application called Sites On Texas. Although it is a limited
subscription only service, site licenses were provided to each LWDB. LMCI provides
extracts from the WIDb to the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) so our data
can be made available from that package.
II. Produce and Disseminate Industry and Occupational Employment Projections
(long and short term)
Publish state and regional 2010-2020 long-term industry & occupational projections
Texas completed our 2010-2020 statewide and LWDA projections in early October 2012
and sent the required electronic files to North Carolina for inclusion in ETA online tools.
Unlike some states, Texas prefers not to produce and publish statewide projections first
and then generate LWDA projections on a subsequent schedule. We believe it is
important to maintain “region-up” additivity between our Workforce Board regions to the
state and vice-versa. Thus, we work to reconcile the state and regional industry numbers
simultaneously. While this may delay slightly the release of state level projections, we
are thus gifted by projections that are internally consistent within and across the state and
regional boundaries. The projections have been subsequently parsed into 29 different
spreadsheets (28 Board regions plus a statewide file) that were uploaded on “The Future”
page of our TRACER2 delivery tool the last week of October. These projections files are
available to local WIB staff who use the data to develop their WIA strategic plan Target
Occupations lists. The integration of the detailed industry and occupational projections
into SOCRATES, Texas Industry Profiles and other LMCI online analysis tools took
place during the first two weeks in November.
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 5
For our short term industry projections, Texas issued an RFP and awarded a contract to
IHS Global Insights to produce forecasts for the State and all Board regions for the period
2011 through 2014. These forecasts, along with a written report, were completed in
October 2012. The month after completing the Texas short term forecast IHS released a
new report on the economic impact of tight oil, namely oil & gas extraction, using
fracking techniques. Because Texas plays a significant role in this sector, and oil & gas
extraction has significant multiplier effects across many industries, we asked IHS to
revise the Texas short term forecasts through 2015 and include the additional insight
from their newest report. The revised data were published in Excel database format on
“The Future” page of our TRACER2 delivery tool in December 2012. The subsequent
narrative report, Growth Abounds: A Forecast of the Texas Labor Market 2012-2015,
was released in August 2013.
Unlike the linear forecasting methods in the PMP short term projections package, the
Global Insights projections were customized for Texas within the scope of their global
macroeconomic forecast. The result is a forecast that considers larger macroeconomic
phenomena and headwinds to economic growth, including the influence of global energy
prices. Because Texas is the largest exporting and energy producing state in the nation,
we believe the impact of global economic conditions will influence growth prospects in
Texas industries – especially in the near term. As such we were very pleased to get this
unique perspective for our short term numbers.
III. Economic Analyses, Special Workforce Information, and Economic and
Workforce Studies
Conduct research and draft reports on various labor market topics, including a
journalistic approach to assessing market conditions and business interaction –
LMCI staff are routinely asked to conduct scores of minor analyses on behalf of a variety
of internal and external customers. Such analyses include studies on the state of the Texas
manufacturing sector, the age of Texas workers by occupation, analysis of higher
education program graduates and earnings, assessing recessionary impacts on job growth
in Texas compared with other states, patterns in employment and payroll wages by size
class distribution, veterans labor force status, quarterly employment patterns in the
various Governor’s clusters, post exit geographic employment location of Texas college
graduates, supply/demand analysis of occupations requiring a postsecondary credential,
creation of a statewide list of targeted occupations in support of the Governors clusters,
job creation and small business, etc. Most of these research efforts were for internal
consumption, legislative testimony or in response to a customer request.
Participate in the Local Employment Dynamics and Business Employment
Dynamics programs – The LMCI Director served as an LED steering committee
member. Texas provided Census LED staff with the necessary files on-time and
appropriately formatted for each of four quarters during the program year. LED data sets
have now been fully integrated into our production version of County Narrative Profiles
application. The new version was rolled into publication in March 2013. PowerPoint
slides highlighting LED outputs have been integrated into almost every external
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 6
presentation. LMCI staff were invited to make a presentation at the 2013 LED national
conference on their work integrating LED data into County Narrative Profiles
application.
Continuation and extension of DWA validation project –The completed DWA library
has been integrated into every LMCI online product, including the SWAP software
system. Considerable work continued on processes to match applicant capabilities and
job posting vectors through the DWA library, using the Performance Levels as one of the
ordering variables. Thread analysis tools were constructed and formal output reports have
been created. Two major areas of emphasis for PY2012 were:
1) Development of online tools to match resumes against various output
vectors, including job postings. The DWA Institute was dismantled during the PY with
the death of Michael Brown, CEO and Founder of SkillsNet Inc. The fledgling SkillsPass
application was taken down. However, LMCI developed parallel capabilities and
replicated all functionalities of SkillsPass. These functionalities have been used internally
to address myriad skill matching challenges. In PY2013 staff will formally create a public
facing application to demonstrate the capabilities of DWA matching in the labor
exchange process. Most likely that application will relate to job matching for veterans as
discussions are underway to create a system designed around the job search needs of
transitioning soldiers.
2) Enhancement of the DWA database by the addition of Workplace Basics.
Employers who are interviewed as to their primary
skill needs most frequently refer to workplace basic
or soft skills as those most in demand. However,
there are limited empirical data to quantify soft
skills, nor is there a common definition. In 2009
Texas developed a compendium of 30 workplace
basic skills that we use to help define this concept. In
PY2011 we did a research project with SkillsNet and
funds from the Texas Education Agency to
determine the feasibility of assigning workplace
basic skills to each DWA. That research demonstrated not only the possibility but the
value of a wider scale data development project (see sample visualization of WBS profile
for Economist). A contract with TSTC Waco will be executed in PY2013 for the
assignment and employer validation of a primary, secondary and tertiary workplace basic
skill to each DWA.
Quarterly QCEW reports (4) – LMCI staff produced four quarterly QCEW reports
during the PY, as scheduled. These reports are posted in TRACER2 and are available for
viewing on the Internet and downloading individually by quarter on the Data Search
Page. The most recent version can be found at:
http://www.tracer2.com/admin/uploadedPublications/2094_QCEW_2Q2013.pdf
In addition to the quarterly QCEW reports, LMCI staff make a significant investment
each month in the creation of a newsletter called the Texas Monthly Labor Review
(TLMR). In PY2012 the TLMR continued to evolve. The expanded 16 page format
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 7
includes new detailed tables and analyses of not only the monthly release of labor force
and payroll jobs statistics but articles and observations designed to help readers better
interpret those statistics. The TLMR is published electronically through TRACER2 and
copies are sent electronically to over eight thousand customers each month via a direct e-
mail contact list.
LMCI staff annually produce automated follow-up
reports that document the labor market and continuing
education outcomes of customers of the Texas workforce
system. These reports are required by Texas SB 281 but also
provide snapshots of one year, three year and five year
program outcomes. These reports by program silo for DOL
PY2012 (e.g. ES, WIA, Skills Development Fund) are
posted on the LMCI website. For PY2012 staff were finally
able to consummate the long-considered online interactive
dashboard for automated follow-up (see embedded dashboard
reports). This new dashboard format allows us to create reports
for all of the various education and training programs and for any
of the local workforce board regions. The new reports have been
fully vetted with Texas Workforce staff and have become the
primary means for communicating post-program labor market
outcomes.
IV. Posting Products, Information, Reports on the Internet
LMCI makes a concerted effort to put as many data sets, and analytical tools, on the web
as possible – and has been doing so for many years. This PY we continued to upgrade
and refine existing products with an emphasis on making the necessary upgrades to
migrate LMCI applications from their current quarantined server environment into the
newer, more robust TWC server environment. While no LMCI products have been
migrated to the new server environment, considerable progress was made in this
direction. TWC continues to have a strong emphasis on accessibility and LMCI continues
to make all new products fully accessible while moving older legacy applications in a
similar direction of common agency branding standards and accessibility.
Strategic Workforce Assessment Program (SWAP) upgrades -- For PY2012 staff
continued to update data sets in SWAP and make minor code changes. No significant
rewrites or new features were added during the PY. Among the many data updates were
2012 occupational wages, the number of Conference Board HWOL job postings for the
most recent quarter, and the most recent QCEW industry employment data
Update and upgrade SOCRATES regional planning software – LMCI staff routinely
updates and improves SOCRATES data currency and program functionality. For PY2012
staff updated all data items in that package to assist regional WIA planners develop their
lists of Targeted Occupations. Specifically, we updated all the QCEW industry
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 8
employment data sets, the occupational wage data sets and the InfoGroup employer
contacts database.
Update and upgrade TRACER2 LMI inquiry software – During PY2012, staff
continued revisiting functionalities of the TRACER2 product and implemented many
public facing changes. Wholesale TRACER redesign efforts continued during PY2012,
however major modifications to the public facing application were delayed in order to
address higher priority applications.
Texas CARES On-line –Texas CARES online continues to be our flagship career
information product. During PY2012 staff updated the
data sets to include 2013 Peterson’s College data, 2012
occupational wage data, 2012 labor supply data from
Texas colleges and many other data items. Texas CARES
Online, while it is a very robust data application, has an
outdated look and feel which has become noticeable
relative to new application designs. Starting in PY2012
we began an entire rewrite of Texas CARES Online with
a special emphasis on a cleaner look and feel to the
application, continuity with TWC branding standards and full accessibility. Given the
breadth of the application and the limited resources being applied to it, we expect the
rewrite to last well into PY2013.
Real time job posting access and analyses using The Conference Board help wanted
job posting data (HWOL) -- Texas continued our investment in the HWOL data set,
giving access to the Wanted Analytics data tool to all Texas LWDBs, while retaining five
seats for LMCI staff. In PY2012 we also
continued a live feed of online job postings
through The Conference Board as part of the
testing process of DWA-centric job matching. We
also included HWOL job posting counts in our
SWAP occupational profile and they are a staple
in staff presentations that show the occupations
most in demand and comparisons of HWOL job
posting activity with estimates of unemployed workers. The costs for procuring HWOL
data was spread across multiple funding streams within the TWC. This year we also
began work on an HWOL centric online application. This application development has
not been a high priority project but we expect to make more progress in PY2013.
Update and upgrade State Training Inventory software – LMCI updated the State
Training Inventory program to include three years of enrollments (2010, 2011, and 2012)
and graduates by CIP program and by institution. Program functionalities were also
improved.
V. Partner & Consulting on a Continuing Basis with WIBS & other Key
Workforce/Economic Development Partners and Stakeholders
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 9
Staff training workshops and presentations – While much of the Texas grantee’s
outreach activity is being pushed online, staff make significant efforts to be in the field
making presentations on the state and regional economies and providing training on our
various products and services. For PY2012, LMCI staff made 103 presentations at
conferences, meetings and in-service workshops. Estimated total attendance at these
events was roughly 8,037 conferees (see Appendix A workshop list attached for details).
The addition of Mick Normington as a full-time presenter was largely responsible for the
increase in presentation attendees by over 30 percent from PY2011. His focus on
providing training to regional Society of Human Resources (SHRM) chapters throughout
Texas, local Chambers of Commerce, Workforce Boards, and Economic Development
entities significantly expanded our outreach activities. Due to funding priority
reallocations in PY2012 from the Texas Education Agency we will no longer be
providing the same level of training among Texas school districts. This will lead to a
decrease in the total number of presentation in PY2013; however we still expect to
conduct as many as 80 sessions next year.
LMCI staff customer service and technical assistance -- Whether our customers touch
one of our web sites or make contact through one of our staff, LMCI dissemination staff
analysts answer questions from the public. Inquiries and responses provided are entered
into an MS Access database from which frequently requested data items can be identified
and, ultimately, given sufficient multiplicity of requests, web-enabled. For PY2012 our
Dissemination staff addressed 1,258 calls and inquiries answering questions almost too
diverse to classify. However, they range from creating customized data for the TWC
Bond Package Offering, to certifying investment areas under the EB 5 program, to
earnings distribution analyses for the Texas workforce.
Explore alternate data sources to expand labor market analytical capacity -- Texas
has long been interested in non-BLS data sources that potentially open up new insights
into labor market dynamics. One of these data sets is sales volume. LMCI continued to
purchase Global Insights industry value of output ($) data, as a proxy for dollar-
denominated sales value and as a means to assess industrial labor productivity and as an
alternate measure of growth. The purchase of 2013 data extends the time series back to
2003 and covers every Texas county at the four digit NAICS level. These data have been
integrated in the Industry Evaluation Model software in SOCRATES and SWAP as an
additional explanatory variable. Staff also continue to dissect the American Community
Survey PUMS micro file to help answer detailed demographic questions. Starting in 2009
the ACS PUMS records contain information on the earnings and occupational
employment of Texans who hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher. Among other things,
these data give us a sense of earnings and occupational attachment for persons whose
major has limited direct association with the labor market, such as Liberal Arts, Political
Science, etc.
Section B: Customer Consultations
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 10
Our strategy regarding customer interface and consultation has not changed from prior
years. We strive to be an outward looking organization, operating under the premise that
an inward-looking business operation will find themselves in the unsatisfactory situation
of spending more time looking at themselves than they do at their customers. LMCI seeks
to create a balanced LMI operation, one which serves as the standard bearer of data
quality while also expanding the application of data to a wider audience. Critical to that
process are regular customer consultations.
The Texas customer consultation strategy has five major components to achieve this
balance, modeled after the underlying principles of the old NOICC/SOICC network. That
network was responsible for creating and supporting uniform use of federal data
taxonomies, while also customizing the use of LMI to address constituent-specific needs.
These five major strategies are:
1. Stay engaged in external applied labor market research – If the recession has
taught us nothing else, the labor market does not always behave in strict accordance to
the Keynesian principles of macroeconomics so many of us were taught in school. The
best way for an LMI shop to stay relevant is to understand how regional labor markets are
functioning and try to provide insights into those dynamics. We try to do this by relying
not only on established core data sets such as those collected under the BLS Fed-State
Cooperative programs but also by integrating new sources of information.
2. Have a strong Internet presence – Like it or not, most of our customers find us via
the Internet. And increasingly those customers want to conduct their own research and
analysis. They’re looking for the best data sets and analytical tools they can find to
achieve that goal. LMCI has ten different web tools, each built to address a specific
customer need. For example, economic development professionals tend to be more
sophisticated data users and need data tools that allow them to conduct occupational
supply/demand analysis, create regional and comparative wage profiles and generate
small area e.g. county-level, community profiles. Students, on the other hand, are more
likely to need career guidance information customized around a decision-making process
to help them determine their interests and work values, find out which occupations might
be of particular interest and how the world of learning is connected to getting those jobs,
i.e. what does one have to study, where can I go to get that instruction. Each of these
diverse web tools is monitored so that we know where our customers are going and
which data tools are generating the most interest. We maintain online feedback loops and
customer support feeds to help us stay connected to customer concerns.
3. Maintain a presence in the field – If your customers don’t know what you offer,
they’re likely to complain that you don’t help them. Having a passive Internet presence is
important, but it is equally critical for our customers to see and interact with LMCI staff.
The most pivotal aspect of maintaining a field presence is the conduct of training and
various presentations. This is one reason the Director makes so many presentations in
local venues; to let customers know the data and data tools that are available, how those
tools can be used to tell the labor market story, and to assess the most salient customer
concerns. As detailed in Appendix A below, LMCI staff conducted 103 presentations and
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 11
workshops during the program year. Each of these events not only allowed us to
communicate value, but also to learn about customer data needs and challenges.
4. Attend conferences and share ideas – If you spend all of your time at your desk you
never develop the personal relationships or participate in the brainstorming sessions that
are so critical to innovation and addressing customer data needs. In PY2012 we continued
a new direction by conducting personal interviews with Texas business to get a sense of
their skill needs. These anecdotal data give us additional context for our statistical data
and also provide us opportunities to collaborate and to form hypotheses that can be
empirically tested. An excellent example this year was our work with the Tien Jen pipe
company in Corpus Christi. We made contact with a representative from this Chinese
company at a presentation and ended up in a conversation about their skill needs and
recruitment challenges. We were able to translate their job posting language into a DWA
profile and then share that profile with the local workforce board to help the company
with recruitment. Also in PY2012 we continued execution of the Texas WDQI grant to
build an integrated database capacity for purposes of identifying post-exit customer
outcomes. LMCI staff are co-managers of the grant and provide technical leadership on
issues of educational data integration. A final report on this grant will be submitted next
year under separate cover.
LMCI program managers also participate in national policy councils, as time allows. The
LMCI Director sits on the national LED steering committee and NASWA LMI
committee. Our BLS program manager sits on the OES and CES policy councils. We find
this external engagement to be extremely useful for generating new ideas and creating
relevant products and services.
5. Stay involved with other state constituencies – The Texas Department of
Rehabilitative Service Blind Services (DARS/VBS) is becoming an increasingly data
driven operation. They routinely collect data on their job placements by occupation using
Standard Occupational Classification codes. Their migration to SOC codes has allowed
LMCI staff to provide detailed analysis on the labor market for those occupations where
high placement volume occurs. Moreover, we can show them occupational areas in which
there is high demand and yet DARS staff have limited penetration. This kind of analysis
is only possible when you understand how other constituencies use labor market data.
LMCI staff are routinely invited to statewide DARS conferences and new counselor
training events to share our expertise in the context of serving the disabled.
LMCI staff are at the table for public K-12 and higher education activities. We try to
maintain staff relationships with these other education and workforce system partners,
albeit through informal channels. As an annual recipient of Perkins grant funding through
the Texas Education Agency, we are able to pursue data projects that are of joint and
mutual interest to both the education and workforce communities. Excellent examples of
that collaboration in PY2012 are the commitment by TEA to fund the Workplace Basics
research project, LMCI staff participation in the Education Research Center (ERC) joint
advisory board, and continued sharing of UI wage records with the Texas Higher
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 12
Education Coordinating Board to maintain college report cards and related post-graduate
outcomes analysis.
Starting in PY2012, the TWC began a Rapid Process Improvement (RPI) initiative to
look at streamlining Agency operations. LMCI will participate in this process and more
specific information on that initiative will be reported in PY2013.
Section C: Partnership and Collaborations (new partnerships, activities
& linkages and highlights of tools & resources created through or
supported by these partnerships)
This section is asking for itemized collaborative efforts to highlight partnership activities
and our contributions to those partnerships. Texas will argue that almost everything we
do involves a partnership of some type, and that in each case we are bringing something
of value to the table in the form of a customized analysis or end-user data tools. Our
strongest outside collaboration in PY2012 was with the Texas Education Agency. Among
the deliverables we produced under a Perkins grant from that agency were:
1. Provided 29 in-service training sessions on the application and use of the LMCI
Career Development curriculum, including the use of Texas CARES (Career
Alternative Resource Evaluation System). Altogether, staff trained 1,480 teacher
participants.
2. The execution of a data collection approach and context for collecting
“Workplace Basics” or social competence data by detailed work activity for every
SOC coded occupation. Data collection for workplace basics linked to DWAs will
begin as a joint project in PY2013. This project is an excellent example of a three-
way collaboration between Career and Technology Education, Higher Education
in the form of TSTC Waco, and LMCI.
3. Provided Toll-free Career Information services, including materials, Spanish
speaking Hotline operator, materials packing and dissemination. The Toll-free
Hotline continued operations in PY2012 for the 27th
consecutive year, filling 561
requests for counselor packets and answering 3,239 student calls from September
1, 2012 through August 31, 2013. Of those, 38% came from 8th
graders and
another 8% came from 7th
graders; reinforcing the point that Career Development
courses are increasingly being taught in middle school. Interestingly, for the first
time in some years there were five occupations requested by students that were
not in the top 20 in the previous year. It is hard to draw conclusions from these
data, but the new occupations all have experienced strong labor market demand in
the past several years. Topping the list in order of inquiries are Athletes, Video
Game Designers, Physicians, Registered Nurse, High School Teacher and
Forensic Science Technician. New to the top 20 are Truck Driver, Welder and
Middle School Teacher. As part of the Hotline contract LMCI continued their
commitment to update and maintain Texas CARES at no cost to the Perkins
contract or the Texas Education Agency. TEA’s lone contribution to Texas
CARES is funding for a third-party video hosting service that serves up the over
400 occupational and college videos provided within Texas CARES.
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 13
There are several other efforts that TWC/LMCI contributes indirectly to the support of
Perkins goals and CTE program support. Among these is the production of occupational
supply and demand reports, analysis of post exit labor market outcomes and a variety of
presentations at which the importance of CTE programs is emphasized.
Section D: Recommendations for Improvements
Texas encourages the continuation of the entire body of ETA core products. We believe
the emphasis is pertinent to the role of an LMI grant recipient and yet flexible enough to
allow each state to address their respective customer needs and engage in unique product
development. We highly encourage the continuation of the three year funding cycle,
which allows states to accomplish annual objectives but also to plan and budget more
strategically to attempt bigger things. Texas has been able to undertake larger, more
meaningful projects by executing some operational budget austerity and the use of budget
carryover provisions to achieve project goals over the course of a three year period. We
applaud ETA for reserving this kind of flexibility for the states to think and act on a
larger scale and longer horizon than an annual grant cycle. From this perspective, it is
disappointing to find that ETA is moving in the opposite direction by mandating larger
percentages of annual grant funds be expended in the grant year. Most states will do this
anyway. But those states that choose to be more assertive and develop a more diverse
funding base, or undertake larger projects in a phased or piecemeal manner, should be
encouraged to do so within the Workforce Information Grant.
Texas also appreciates the flexibility allowed by ETA to provide the kinds of specific
deliverables deemed necessary at the state level within broad categories identified by
ETA. Texas appreciates the efforts of ETA regional office staff to keep us informed of
federal initiatives that may have a bearing on state policies and approaches. We
encourage ETA to retain this policy direction.
Texas continues to support the partnership between state LMI shops and the Census
Bureau regarding the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) program. LED now has all 50
states participating and this treasure trove of labor market dynamics information is just
starting to become mainstream. We applaud ETA’s prior participation as a funding agent
and we highly encourage ETA to continue their active participation as part of the
partnership; both financially and through challenges to the LED partnership to create
products and reports that specifically contribute to federal and state workforce program
operations. There is no richer data base with more potential for the workforce system
than LED. Given ETA’s early support of the fledgling system, we encourage continued
engagement -- if for no other reason than to optimize early development investments. We
would also encourage ETA to investigate several related projects being undertaken by
Census, especially the job to job flows research, as they have exceptional potential to
assist planning and placement for dislocated and transitioning workers.
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 14
Texas also would like to encourage ETA to participate in the Conference Board’s
initiative relating to on-line help wanted job postings (HWOL). Otherwise referred to as
“real-time LMI” the availability of online job postings data has been an exceptional
addition to the LMI toolkit. We recognize that there are many companies engaged in web
spidering for electronic job postings; however The Conference Board has made a
concerted effort to understand help wanted advertising as a leading economic indicator
within the larger macroeconomic environment. This allows HWOL job postings to be
seamlessly integrated into various LMI tools and the underlying micro data and analytical
tools should prove extraordinarily helpful in direct job placement under TANF/
CHOICES and WIA.
Lastly, we encourage ETA to fully support the Projections Managing Partnership. The
micro-matrix product is critical to long term projections and the various related tools and
expertise that allows that system to be useful are highly valued by states. In addition, the
EDS OES wage data processing tool is critical to providing occupational wage data to our
local workforce boards. The BLS supports wage data for MSAs but in states like Texas
that have 28 local workforce boards that are not coterminous with MSAs, the ability to
support WIA and those Boards with wage data and customized regional staffing patterns
is dependent on the EDS processing engine. We hope ETA recognizes the importance of
the EDS processing engine and the valuable support role previously provided by the state
of North Carolina and finds a way to retain this capability.
Texas TEGL PY2012-13 Status Report September 4, 2013 RCF/LMCI page 15
LOCATION PURPOSE FOLKS TYPE
Pasadena Working Texas Style to Palacios Chamber of Commerce 40 Employer
Corpus Christi Provide Career Development and CARES training at TVIA summer conference (2 sessions) 90 Teachers
Corpus Christi Provide Career Development and CARES training at TVIA summer conference (2 sessions) 90 Teachers
Austin Changing Face for UT@Austin Professional Development 18 Administrators
San Antonio Changing Face for TAB/SHRM business conference 325 Employer
Dallas Provide Career Development and CARES training at CTAT Education conference 50 Teachers
Dallas Provide Career Development and CARES training at CTAT Education conference 50 Teachers
Austin Texas economic overview for TWC internal staff PAR briefing 21 Administrators
Dallas Provide Career Development and CARES training at Family Consumer Sciences conference 60 Teachers
Dallas Provide Career Development and CARES training at Family Consumer Sciences conference 60 Teachers
Dallas Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 10 ESC 45 Teachers
Dallas Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 10 ESC 45 Teachers
Huntsville Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 6 ESC 10 Teachers
Huntsville Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 6 ESC 10 Teachers
El Campo Working Texas Style: Job Creation & Employment Trends in Wharton County 50 Employers
El Paso Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 19 ESC 45 Teachers
El Paso Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 19 ESC 45 Teachers
San Antonio Presentation on Tx Economy and LMCI Resources Northeast ISD CTE teachers 50 Teachers
San Antonio Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 20 ESC 40 Teachers
San Antonio Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 20 ESC 40 Teachers
Texarkana Working Texas Style presentation on the TX & Texarkana economies for LWDA Summit 60 Workforce
Victoria Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 3 ESC 20 Teachers
Victoria Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 3 ESC 20 Teachers
Kilgore Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 7 ESC 30 Teachers
Kilgore Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 7 ESC 30 Teachers
Austin Working Texas Style: Do you have the skills to pay the bills for Austin Community College 90 Administratrors
Ft. Worth Changing Face for Ft. Worth SHRM conference 75 Employer
Silsbee Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 5 ESC 35 Teachers
Silsbee Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 5 ESC 35 Teachers
Austin Working Texas Style: Do you have the skills to pay the bills for TX CTE Leadership 240 Teachers
Richmond Working Texas Style: Do you have the skills to pay the bills for Wharton Co Junior College 6 Administrators
Houston Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 4 ESC 45 Teachers
Houston Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 4 ESC 45 Teachers
Bay City Working Texas Style to Bay City Chamber of Commerce 5 Employers
Harlingen Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 1 ESC 45 Teachers
Harlingen Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 1 ESC 45 Teachers
Austin Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 13 ESC 40 Teachers
Austin Provide Career Development and CARES training at Region 13 ESC 40 Teachers
South Padre Changing Face for DARS Statewide conference 200 Counselors
Austin Changing Face for Capital Area LWDA Job Club at UT 25 Employers
Austin Economic briefing to TWC Commissioners PAR briefing 45 Workforce
The Woodlands Changing Face for The Woodlands Labor Law Symposium 110 Employers
San Antonio Labor market and career opportunities for visually impaired 20 Counselors
Beaumont Working Texas Style for Golden Triangle Business Roundtable 110 Employers
Port Arthur Will & Skill for Southeast Texas 8 Counselors
Beaumont Working Texas Style for Beaumont workforce office staff 19 Counselors
Ft Worth Changing Face for Ft. Worth Education and Business Alignment Conference at ESC XI 120 Administrators
Baytown Working Texas Style of regional college administrators and counselors 55 Administrators
Austin Changing Face for AHRMA conference - lunch keynote 60 Employers
Grapevine Will & Skill for the Texas economy TWC statewide conference 150 Workforce
Grapevine Use of DWAs in TSTC Curriculum Alignment process TWC statewide conference 75 Workforce
Austin DWA Common Language Project webinar for NASWA 215 Workforce
Austin Changing Face for TASSCC State of the State conference 350 Employer
Austin Provide Career Development and CARES training for TVIA conference 125 Teachers
Austin Provide Career Development and CARES training for TVIA conference 125 Teachers
Waco Changing Face for Heart of TX Board Awards Banquet Waco Convention Center 175 Employer
Austin Changing Face for Texas Rehabilitation Council 25 Administrators
Austin Changing Face for TAB/SHRM business conference 190 Employers
Austin Changing Face for Williamson County HR Association 40 Counselors
Austin Provide Career Development and CARES training for CTAT conference 60 Administrators
Austin Provide Career Development and CARES training for CTAT conference 60 Administrators
Beaumont Working Texas Style: Trends Impacting Texas Employers & Workers to South East LWDB 45 Administrators
Galveston Presentation on using interactive dashboards to display follow-up information 90 Administrators
Galveston Presentation on using interactive dashboards to display follow-up information 90 Administrators
Austin Aligning Will & Skill for CTAT Administrators conference 350 Administrators
Austin Changing Face for UT graduate accounting students 75 Students
Hutto Job Creation and Job Development for Hutto Chamber of Commerce 25 Employers
Corpus Christi Changing Face and LMCI resources to workforce conference sponsored by Goodwill 35 Administrators
Austin Working Texas Style for Texas Transitional Counselors statewide conference 150 Counselors
Austin Aligning Will & Skill for Jobseekers for Capital Area Board LaunchPad jobseekers club 90 Job Seekers
McAllen Aligning Will & Skill for Jobseekers for combined DARS and Middle Rio LWDB staff 35 Counselors
Houston Working Texas Style: Skills To Pay The Bills for Houston ISD 220 Administrators
Corpus Christi Will & Skill and LMCI resources to Texas Association of School Boards keynote 110 Administrators
Arlington Will & Skill with Changing Face for NCT workforce board 60 Workforce
Austin Will & Skill for TACTE statewide conference keynote presentation 150 Administrators
Austin Quick Snapshot of the Texas Economy for TWC Commissioner work session 25 Workforce
Odessa Will & Skill with Changing Face for Permian Basin workforce board (1st talk) 35 Workforce
Austin Working Texas Style: Opportunities for All Kinds of Workers for DARS counselors 12 Counselors
Odessa Will & Skill with Changing Face for Odessa College education administrators (2nd talk) 40 Administrators
Austin Using LED data for regional labor market analysis for LMCI staff 8 Workforce
Austin Texas Automated Student Follow-up System for FERPA conference 75 Administrators
Austin Aligning Education and Economy for Achieve Texas in-service program 20 Administrators
Austin Working Texas Style: Do You Have The Skills To Pay The Bills for TACE conference 50 Counselors
Austin Changing Face of Austin for Metropolitan Breakfast Club 100 Employers
Tyler Working Texas Style presentation for DARS Tyler regional conference 70 Counselors
Austin The Texas Labor Market: Quarterly Performance Briefing 30 Workforce
Round Rock Working Texas Style presentation for Round Rock Job Club 60 Jobseekers
Austin Changing Face customized for new DARS counselors 25 Counselors
Cedar Park Will & Skill customized for Cedar Park economic development 40 Administrators
Dallas Working Texas Style: Do You Have The Skills To Pay The Bills for NCT LWDB 45 Counselors
Austin Future of Texas IT workforce for GTC conference 300 Administrators
San Antonio Changing Face for National Disability Counselors 30 Counselors
San Antonio Working Texas Style: Skills to Pay the Bills to Texas Association of School Boards 100 Administrators
Washington Using LED within the CNP data tool at national LED conference with R. Froeschle 150 Workforce
Washington Using LED within the CNP data tool at national LED conference with R. Froeschle 150 Workforce
Ft. Worth Working Texas Style: Skills to Pay the Bills to Texas Association of School Boards 100 Administrators
San Antonio Changing Face for HR folks at San Antonio EEOC conference 200 Teachers
Austin Working Texas Style to Texas Staff Recruiters Association 25 Employers
San Antonio Aligning Will & Skill for San Antonio TX Economic Education conference 105 Employers
Pittsburg Presentation on LMCI products to Region 8 ESC w/ M. Guzman 25 Workforce
San Antonio Will and Sk ill and LMCI Resources for Alamo LWD Board 60 Workforce
Austin Do You Have the Sk ills to Pay the Bills talk for TX Assoc. of Community College Marketers 80 Administrators
Austin Aligning Education & the Economy for Austin Metro 8 chambers of commerce 20 Employers
Huntsville Do You Have the Sk ills to Pay the Bills talk for TX Prison Education Conference 80 Administrators
Appendix A: LMCI Presentation Schedule PY 2012
